I start most mornings with a green smoothie– a concoction of cucumber, spinach, rice or nut milk, chia seeds, stevia, protein powder, bananas, a scoop of frozen orange juice concetrate, and a mix of frozen fruit– mango and berries of all sorts.  I know it sounds weird to a lot of people, but we like it around here.  It’s thick and sweet, goes down easy, and I don’t have to think about what to make for breakfast.  Most days, this is it.

It’s also super-healthy, and this makes me feel like I’m beginning anew, again, each day.  Of course, one nutrient-rich drink doesn’t undo the “sins” of the previous day, but it does help me to wipe the slate clean again, to set an intention for how I want the day to go, steering me in the right direction.  Even though I often get turned around and a little lost in my days, there is a hopeful faith, a yearning, and beauty in a fresh start.

I’m using this moment to Begin Anew, Again with my blog.  After taking a great blog class and reading tons of other blogs this past year, I’ve been learning a lot but also floundering in figuring out where I want to go.  One of my problems has been that I put enormous pressure on myself to be like other blog-writers, to do things a certain way, and then I freeze up because I can’t live up to my inflated expectations.  I can’t write this kind of entry… I need to do this and this and THIS to have it be good enough…   I’ve written some great stuff here, and I do want to continue to do that, but I want to take the pressure off of myself, too.  I want to write more often, share all kinds of stuff, not worry about the facade of being This Certain Type of Blogger. I can be me, someone who is sometimes serious and passionate and philosophical, but also sometimes silly and odd.   It’s my blog… I can let it all hang out and just follow my whims.

It sounds fun and exciting and scary.  We’ll see where this goes.  Take another sip of my morning smoothie.  Here I go!